The Jane's Sunday Best Story

As I sit on yet another plane, knitting my way to Townsville this time, I’m watching an in-flight show about family histories which prompted me to write a little note about how Jane’s Sunday Best came to be.

For me, creativity has always been linked with family (except of course when I was a teenager because then everything was about how to avoid family...). My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet, and was almost never seen without some sort of yarn in her hands. She would wear the most gorgeous 50s aprons (really - she had been wearing them since the 50s) and we used to sit for hours making knitted squares for blankets – which is coincidentally what I’ve been knitting today.

My mother (Jan, co-owner of Jane’s Sunday Best) taught me how to hand sew – although I fully admit that my skills were never even close to her standards, perhaps due to my lack of patience. My brother and I took art classes together for years learning classical drawing and oil painting – Jan joined us and discovered an incredible talent for portraiture and detailed painting.

As a teenager and young adult I put away much of my creativity as i spent most of my energy (socialising) studying and working (but really socialising). It wasn’t until my mid twenties that I rediscovered my love of handiwork. A friend and I packed up our car and took off around Australia and on our long drives we would knit and crochet presents for the people we stayed with – rugs and other treats. I started making eccentric beanies which I sold at winter festivals from the boot of my car.

Unfortunately, in time there were more and more beanies available in stores at prices that didn’t even cover the cost of materials (which I had to buy at retail prices) so I needed another project. Another friend bought me a book about tea cosies for a birthday present which started an obsession that has formed the basis for my half of JSB.

 

I find knitting and crochet very meditative and feel so much healthier and happier when I knit regularly. The process of design is also incredibly fulfilling – creating new and interesting tea cosies that are one-of-a-kind.

One Christmas Jan was wandering around a craft store and found some fabric with pictures of women with red curly hair (like mine). She decided to use it to make a bag for me as a present – however when she got it home Dad asked her why she had bought material that was covered in skulls. Turns out Jan hadn’t looked very closely at the fabric and didn’t want to give me a bag of skulls (not that I would have minded) so she cut out the pictures of women and attached them to some beautiful upholstery fabric to create her very first bag. The finished piece created so much attention she started making more and more – then branched out into making 50s style aprons just like Grandma used to wear.

 

As word started to get out amongst friends and family we realised our products were selling as fast as we could make them and decided to set up a business. The name Jane’s Sunday Best was suggested by a friend – we wanted something that indicated the beauty of rituals – the ritual of tea, the ritual of cooking, the rituals of cleaning (while looking gorgeous), the little rituals that make up life. We believe that family matters. We believe in the importance of community. We believe that tea and cooking bring people together. We believe in using age-old techniques to make modern designs. We believe that using our hands and minds to create beautiful products keeps us happy, healthy and connected.

 Jane is part of both our names and is one of those words that keeps coming up in our lives so we felt that it fit well. We love our business and we love having such a positive way to use our creative energies. We use vintage or reclaimed materials (like old, clean jumpers) wherever we can, and everything we make is one of a kind – although we do use the same patterns more than once. Each of our patterns is our own design and we are always open to new ideas and suggestions. We talk every week about our creative ideas and we are proud to have our work available at Handmade High Street in Annerley. This is still the beginning of our story.

Liv